


if you're okay then I'm okay

by IceSword46



Series: Honest Men [1]
Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Boys being a little sad and a little soft, Daddy Issues, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, implied/referenced PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:14:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27187786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceSword46/pseuds/IceSword46
Summary: Sam gets hurt outside the Stardrop Saloon. Alex has surprising medical prowess.
Relationships: Alex & Sam (Stardew Valley)
Series: Honest Men [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2021797
Comments: 5
Kudos: 32





	if you're okay then I'm okay

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own these characters but sometimes I wish I lived in their town.
> 
> Title from I'm Okay by Honest Men

Sam really should have paid attention better to his footing. Yes, it had been raining earlier, and yes, maybe he drank a little too much while playing pool, and _yes,_ the step leading into the Saloon was a little worn down. So maybe it was all of these things mixed together that resulted in him stumbling instead of stepping out of the Stardrop and crashing to the ground.

"You okay?" Sam hears a voice ask as he pushes himself up. His hands are stinging and he can see a weird discoloration on the stones beneath his hands. It takes a moment to realize it's from the blood that's seeping from his palms. Sam curses under his breath. He rests his hands on his thighs to catch his breath and then immediately regrets it when a) it hurts; and b) he just smears the blood all over his pants instead. He curses again before finally turning in the direction the question came.

Alex is standing there holding Dusty's leash, though the dog seemed more content to be sprawled on the grass rather than going for a walk. He's still looking at Sam, who's only just now realizing he hadn't replied. He waves off Alex's question with a, "yeah, I'm good. Don't worry about it."

Sam watches Alex's eyes flicker to his hand and then down to his stained pants. Alex frowns in concern but doesn't say anything for a long moment. "No, you're not," he eventually replies. Sam starts to reassure him again but Alex cuts him off. "It's fine, we've got a first aid kit in the house. We'll have to be quiet, though, my grandparents are asleep by now and I don't want to wake them." He's already tugging Dusty back to his paws. Dusty lets out a huff but stands and turns back to the house. Sam's still hasn't moved, whether out of surprise from falling or surprise from Alex inviting him into his house unprompted, he's not sure. Alex looks back at Sam, this time with a look of annoyance. "Seriously, come on. You need to get that cleaned up." Sam follows Alex into the house.

Dusty quietly trots into a room that Sam assumes is Alex's while Alex guides Sam to the kitchen. In the brighter lights of the kitchen Sam can better see the smears of red along his fingers, as well as the bits of gravel embedded in his skin, he winces. Alex starts warm water running in the sink and then rummages around in the cabinet beneath it until he procures a small translucent case with a large red plus sign on it. "Go on," Alex says, nodding towards the sink as he walks over to the table and opens up the kit. Sam does his best to clean off his hands and get the looser pieces of rock out of the way. Pretty soon his hands sting more from the heat of the water than from the scrapes so he dries them off and sits down next to Alex, who has methodically laid out the antiseptic wipes, cotton balls, band-aids, and tweezers. "Lemme see," Alex orders.

Sam upturns his palms and rests them on the table. "You really don't have to do this, man, I'm alright," Sam tries to protest, but Alex ignores him and assures him, "it's fine." He spreads Sam's fingers and wipes at where the skin has torn with the wipes, surprisingly gentle, given the size of his hands. Sam does his best to fight the urge to clench his fingers against the pain but can't quite do it. Alex pauses, lets Sam resettle himself, and then continues wordlessly. At one point the wipe Alex's using catches against one of the calluses on the pads of Sam's fingertips that had formed after a particularly long practice session of his guitar a few nights earlier. Sam sees Alex chuckle softly to himself.

"What's so funny?" Sam can't help but ask and he watches Alex grimace in embarrassment, as though he hadn't expected Sam to notice his reaction.

"My grandpa says that calluses are a sign of a hard day's work," Alex tells him. Alex flips over his own hand and Sam sees a smattering of calluses along the other man's fingers and palms. "I don't know that he agrees that gridball and weights are as hard of work as the mines, but what can you do." Sam gives a laugh of his own, and then, without thinking, reaches out to trace at the hardened skin at the crease of Alex's palm. Sam hears Alex give a short, sharp inhale of breath, but he doesn't pull away. When he looks at Alex, his expression is unreadable.

Sam brings his hand back to the table to help reground himself. "If he thinks gridball is a waste of time, then I can't imagine he'd have many good things to say about guitar," Sam replies.

"Nah, he's a good guy, deep down," Alex says, more to himself than to Sam. Sam feels like he shouldn't have said anything but he isn't sure what to say after that so instead he just keeps quiet. Alex dries off the dampness of the wipes with the cotton balls and wiggles his fingers for a moment before picking up the tweezers. He rests one hand against Sam's fingers to keep him in place. Slowly, precisely, he begins to pull the pieces of gravel out of Sam's palm as Sam hisses in pain.

"Yeah, this was always my least favorite part, too," Alex reassures him. Sam assumes Alex is referring to scrapes he got at gridball practices until he adds, almost off-handedly, "gravel tends to be harder to get out than glass, since it's usually weirdly shaped, but it hurts less."

"Wait, what?" Sam asks, startled. He wasn't _that_ drunk to have misheard or misunderstood what Alex had said. Alex freezes. "Where were you playing gridball that you would have fallen on broken glass?" Alex unfreezes and goes back to work. He doesn't say anything as he removes the last of the gravel, does another round of wipes and cotton balls, or as he bandages up Sam's hands. He doesn't answer Sam's question and Sam is more sober than drunk now so he talks himself out of asking again. He's still a little disoriented by the entire last half hour and he doesn't think he can blame _that_ on the alcohol.

Sam flexes his fingers a couple of times to make sure the bandages aren't going to displace themselves while Alex sits back to admire his work. The bandage stay firm and Alex gives what Sam thinks is a satisfied smile, if the smile fell 30% short of what it was trying to be. There's a sadness in Alex's eyes now and Sam is worried he may have been the cause of it but he's not sure what he did wrong. The stillness feels awkward, now, that they're both just sitting there in the silent kitchen.

"Well, thanks again, Alex," Sam says to break the tension and Alex nods.

"Don't mention it," Alex replies quietly, and Sam wonders if he means that literally. It's quiet again. When Sam starts to rise from the table to see himself out Alex says, in a rush, "the broken glass wasn't from playing gridball." Sam pauses and when he looks back at Alex, Alex doesn't meet his gaze.

Sam isn't sure if he should press but Alex did offer up the information so he sits back down and asks, "Oh. Then what..?"

Alex takes a deep breath, runs a hand through his hair. "My dad, um, my dad drank a lot? And when he drank, he usually got angry. He liked to throw things, usually just at the wall, though. The easiest thing to throw was just usually the empty bottle he was already holding.

"Damn it, Alex, look what you made me do, look at the mess you caused," Alex says mockingly in a gruff voice, and Sam can't help but flinch. Alex let's out a noise that sounds like a humorless laugh. "It's hard to pick up broken glass with shaky hands."

Sam isn't sure if he's too sober or too drunk to be hearing this. He and Alex hadn't been the closest of friends to begin with, even before Sam started up the band with Sebastian and really started spending most of his free time with Seb and Abby, so he's not sure why Alex is telling him all this. Maybe because he just hasn't had a chance to talk about it? Sam knew Alex was close with Haley but otherwise he tended to keep to himself, so he's willing to bet not too many people know, which has gotta weigh on him pretty heavily.

Sam wonders if that's part of why Alex keeps himself so fit, or if it's hard living so close to the saloon and if that's why Alex never goes in there, but he doesn't think he should ask. 

He realizes he hasn't said anything back to Alex. Sam's pretty sure Alex isn't looking for sympathy, and knows he doesn't want pity, so instead he blurts out "My dad is more angry now, too." Alex looks at him in surprise. Sam looks back at him, equally surprised at himself. Alex looks unsure of what to say, now that Sam's taken lead on the conversation, which Sam didn't mean to make happen but he almost finds it funny how quickly their roles reversed while talking about things that aren't funny at all.

"I knew things would be different when he came home, but I guess I didn't realize just _how_ different they would be?" Sam continues. He's finding it easier to say, now that he's started. Alex listens quietly, expression shifting to one of concern. "He doesn't really laugh anymore? Like, he smiles when he's with my mom, and jokes with me and Vincent, but it doesn't feel like he's really with us, sometimes.

"He used to play with me a lot as a kid, like, gridball and tag and stuff and he doesn't do that with Vincent. I got all the good parts of being a kid and having our dad around when I was his age, and Vincent already missed out on having our dad around all the time, and now that he's back he's still missing out on the dad I had. I don't know if he knows it, but I'm sure he's noticed at least a little." He hadn't told Abby and Sebastian that last bit, he hadn't quite had the words to explain it before. He's not sure how he managed to find them tonight but he's glad he did, glad he told someone, even if that someone somehow ended up being Alex. 

_I always worried my dad would die while fighting. I think part of him did,_ Sam thinks but doesn't say. 

Instead Sam says, "I'm sorry. I know that's not the same as..."

Alex shrugs half-heartedly. "Everyone's got things their dealing with. Sometimes it's already happened, sometimes it's happening now. Eventually we'll have new things to deal with. Like, did you hear someone might be taking over the old farm?"

Sam nods. "Yeah, and I heard they're from the city, so I doubt it's gonna go well."

Alex chuckles. "You never know, some people are full of surprises."

"Yeah," Sam agrees with a small laugh of his own. "Yeah, they are." He and Alex look at each other for a long moment. Sam flexes his bandaged hands, they feel better. Sam does, too. "Thanks again, Alex. For everything, " Sam tells him. Sam hopes Alex catches the full meaning of his words.

Alex smiles, a 100% one, this time. "You too, Sam." Sam gives an internal sigh of relief knowing Alex did. Something changed between them tonight. He's not sure just what, but he figures they've got plenty of time to figure it out.

"I should...," Sam starts to say, motioning towards the door and Alex replies with an, "oh, uh huh..," and walks Sam out. They bid each other good night and Sam hears the door shut quietly behind him as he begins his walk home.

Sam doesn't see Alex the next day but Sunday afternoon while Sam sits out front of his house strumming his guitar as gently as he can, Vincent sitting next to him listening, he sees Alex walking towards them carrying a gridball.

"Hey Vincent," Alex calls out, and the both boys look up in surprise. "You wanna help me practice? I'd ask your brother but since he went and got himself benched, I thought you might wanna take his place?"

Vincent's smile threatens to take over his entire face. "Okay!" Vincent yells, hopping to his feet.

"How about we go to the field behind your house? You can practice going long," Alex says. Vincent nods quickly and takes off at a run towards the field. Alex shoots Sam a smile before jogging after the boy. Sam softly sets down his guitar and chases after them.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know where this sudden spark of creation came from but I hope you like it!
> 
> Feedback is always appreciated!


End file.
